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Things

Learn to make games

(I'm still writing this)

In other words, this isn't done yet.Sorry. It'll be done soon, hopefully.

Last time I checked this:31st of August '09

1) Read this first

Before you go any further, get this:

This is the way I make games. It might not be the way for you. Experiment.

If you make games this way, they'll work only on Windows.

These aren't flash games! You can put them on the internet, but people have to download them before playing.

Game Maker is NOT A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE. It's a program with a user interface. You can create games just fine with Drag-and-Drop icons that mean different things. For really complicated games though, you might have to do some coding in Game Maker Language (GML), but it's pretty simple once you know how the program works otherwise.

If you somehow screw up and your computer, your head, toes and the internet all suddenly explode, it's your fault.

All okay still? Let's go.

The Game Maker logo

2) Get GameMaker

When you start it, you'll get a window saying something about how the Pro version is absolutely awesome and how you should spend some money on it. You really really really don't need Pro to make a good game, so disregard the advice to begin with. Spend the money when/if you think it's worth it. I paid for it after about three years of using it.

3) Learn GM basics (not as hard as it looks, but still quite something)

Even though GM is relatively easy, it's still quite a big step if you haven't had any previous experience in programming. You have to get used to it. When I opened the program first, I had NO IDEA about anything. Learning is totally worth it.

The little icon shown below each part is what Game Maker generally uses to identify that resource!

Objects are the functional elements of a game made in Game Maker. Every object has many events, which control almost everything.

They can have a sprite.They can be created and destroyed.They exist in rooms.

A Room is an area of the game. You can specify its size yourself. Different rooms can contain different objects and you can swap between rooms anytime during the game.

Sprites are images that can be assigned to objects. They are "attached" to the object at the origin. You can change the sprite of an object to another at any time.